Dee Milliner put off surgery to work out at Combine

Posted by Darin Gantt on February 25, 2013, 9:22 AM EDT

AP

Alabama cornerback Dee Milliner said the thing that separates himself from other defensive backs is his toughness.

“Just my mentality as a football player,” he said during his interview at the NFL Scouting Combine. “My toughness, the physical play that I play with, it’s just different form some cornerback in today’s league.

He certainly showed that this season, playing through a painful shoulder injury that will require surgery.

Milliner will need surgery for a torn labrum, and he said that would happen March 12. He’ll do everything other than the bench press during his workout tomorrow, and said he’d need approximately two months to rehab, which will have him back in plenty of time for training camp.

Milliner said he suffered the injury during Alabama’s loss to Texas A&M on Nov. 10, but didn’t miss a game because of it. He said he could have had surgery after the season, but wanted to hold off so he could work out at the Combine.

“No I don’t think it had any limitations on me,” he said. “I was hurting when I was playing, but you’ve got to fight through it and keep playing, so I just continued to go out there and play.

“I don’t think it will [affect his draft stock]. I hope it don’t, anyway. To say that, cause you know, you get hurt. I know I have surgery and I know I’ll be back to normal making plays and that’s why I wanted to come to the combine, just to do this and just to show that I can move around and do stuff with my arm hurt now.”

Milliner showed plenty on the field this season, and when asked about his perceived sub-par athleticism, said: “Watch the NFL Combine.”

That establishes the requisite confidence, and coupled with his willingness to play through pain, should have him in good standing with NFL scouts. He seems like an obvious pick for the Lions at No. 5, and adding a cover man will help them as much as adding someone with a little toughness.

I hope the Lions dont take Milliner at #5. That is too high for him. Besides, its the safety position, not CB, that is the lions biggest need,

steelerben says:Feb 25, 2013 10:56 AM

Not a chance he falls out of the top ten. If he makes it past the Lions in a pass happy division, after the Browns draft another receiver, the Cardinals get help on defense, and the Bills reach for Ryan Nassib, the Jets would be stupid to not take him and get off of (paying) Revis Island.

I’m in the same boat, torn labrum in my right shoulder right now and I just went and fought a house fire. It’s more of an annoying pain than a painful pain. Definitely sounds tougher than it is but kudos to Milliner anyway. And theres absolutely no way he could bench without tearing it further so good call there.